This week we reached a significant milestone in our renovation — the reveal of the first major new exhibition areas — but even as we unveiled these new activities, we are not yet finished. Additional new exhibitions and activities will continue to open throughout the first half of 2010 until we arrive at a totally reinvented and re-imagined Museum in June.

First, we are delighted to welcome you to the first major new exhibitions developed by Discovery Place. Cool Stuff and Explore More Stuff are now open and available to help you to understand why things do the things they do. Cool Stuff gets you involved with physical science in a unique and fun way that sparks curiosity. Through galleries of interactive contraptions and manipulatives, you experience and investigate... Keep reading.

Henrietta, the Museum’s 12-foot long, 85-pound Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), has found a new home. Many visitors remember her as the quiet yet impressive presence in the Rainforest, currently being upgraded during the renovation. Henrietta has permanently relocated to the Bronx Zoo in New York.

Native to Southeast Asia, Burmese Pythons can grow up to 30 feet in length and weigh up to 300 pounds! As a new member of the Bronx Zoo, Henrietta will help the staff educate their visitors about the dangers that invasive species can present to native populations of animals.

At Discovery Place for more than 10 years, Museum staff is happy that Henrietta has found a new home. The upgraded Rainforest is scheduled to open in June 2010.

Rat Basketball has just drafted some new players and they need names. We are training new rats to play in the popular Rat Basketball games but they are still without names. There are two rats to be named and both are females. Send us your ideas for these new superstar athletes and we'll pick the best ones. Suggestions will be accepted through November 12.

We often talk about the big successes at Discovery Place and we are very proud of those. But, it is the little things that happen here every day -- the small moments when we connect with a child or an adult and inspire them to see the world differently or give them an “aha!” moment – that embody our organization’s mission of igniting wonder.

One of the most popular exhibits in Discovery Place right now is Kapla. The response that these simple wooden building planks have generated from our visitors has been amazing. During a high school group’s visit to Discovery Place not too long ago, a contest to build the tallest tower out of Kapla Blocks broke out between classmates and quickly escalated to an intense competition. Circles of chanting, cheering,... Keep reading.

As part of Target's corporate commitment to education, the national retailer is awarding 5,000 grants of up to $800 each for school field trips. Applications can be submitted online and the deadline is November 3, 2009. Click here for more information about this opportunity to beat school budget blues!

Target Field Trip Grants